When people think of the Grimm Fairy
Tales line of comics the first thing they think of is the covers. The very
adult themed covers that depict woman in sexy outfits dressed in the costumes from your fairy tale youth. Grimm Myths and Legends is an off shoot of the Grimm Fairy
Tales proper ongoing series and takes a different approach to the horror fairy
tale genre. The cover would lead you to thinking that the story is about Red
Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, but not really. In this setting Red Riding
Hood works in a top-of-the-line mental health hospital and the Big Bad Wolf has
infiltrated the faculty for reasons unknown.
The issue begins with one of the
patients being subdued after witnessing the Wolf’s (shape changing werewolf)
first attack. He’s a man that hasn’t spoken since arriving at the hospital so
it’s shocking to the staff to hear him speak. Enter our Red Riding Hood who is
one of the doctors on staff. After being filled in on the events of the
previous evening she’s off to a group therapy session. Meanwhile the
maintenance crew heads downstairs to get supplies. One of them plays a joke on
the other by locking him in a room with no light. Too bad the Wolf is
inside of the room and tears the man apart. When the second man opens the door
to see what the commotion is about a giant claw reaches out and pulls him in.
Back in group therapy one of the
patients, Annie, has smashed her head on the glass of the building windows.
She’s a cutter which is apparent by the large amount of wounds all up and down
her body. She’s taken a piece of the broken glass as a weapon and demands to go
outside. She cuts one of the personnel, Kasey, with the glass. Our Red shows up
and begins talking Annie down from the situation. Kasey takes his opportunity
and tackles Annie making her have even greater trust issues. She continues to
freak out about going outside until a storm front moving in catches everyone’s
attention. Meanwhile the Wolf is on the move as he takes the form of the janitor
he’s just killed.
First of all, stay the hell out of the
basement. Three people are killed there so it’s a safe bet that if you go down
there you’re dead! To continue the story is okay. It’s not going to blow your
mind, but it’s decent for a horror comic book with a fairy tale twist. The
writing and art are pretty much on par with each other, neither one out shines the
other. I do have to give credit to writer Raven Gregory for the way he handled
the scene between Annie and Red. It was believable dialog and had a realistic
tone and solution. I will say that the angle of the Hospital having to maintain
its capacity is a bit played out and I wasn’t a fan of the freak storm front
moving in, but to be honest its nothing that Hollywood doesn’t pull all the time in movies.
The art is good, but very inconsistent
at times. The first pages are forgettable due to the spastic facial expressions
of the characters. Of course the art improves when a beautiful woman shows up,
but that’s to be expected. Artist David Miller’s strongest work is actually the
Wolf. Big Bad looks like a total bad ass and the gore/carnage is very detailed
and realistic. It’s a shame that he’s forced to draw extra throw away
characters just to give the setting a feeling of being alive.
Overall I can’t say that the book was
for me, but I know someone out there probably loves it. Let me clarify by
saying that it’s not the concept of the book that I don’t like. I like horror
comics and even the sexy fairy tale twist added to it. It’s just the
execution of it all. The formula is simplistic enough that it could be the
setting for any October movie release, but it’s completely un-needed. The
setting of the mental hospital and the characters is really all that was needed
for this story to grab me, but when you add the extra elements just to give people
familiarity it’s just not as strong as it could be. Loose the storm and the unrealistic need for full capacity and there's still plenty of ways this story could have worked.
Overall
Score – 7.5/10